ST. JOHNS, Fla. — Following concerns over what many consider to be a dangerous walk to school in St. Johns, parents are speaking out and county commissioners are now taking action.
The route in question is a sidewalk running along County Road 2209 where 9B and St. Johns Parkway meet. Parents living in the St Johns Forest neighborhood are concerned about their children’s safety walking along that sidewalk to Liberty Pines Academy.
The sidewalk has no guard rails or protection and has less than a couple of feet of space from County Road 2209. However, St Johns County commissioners are now taking action.
St. Johns County Commissioner Sarah Arnold told Action News Jax in an interview Monday that the current sidewalk will be demolished on Saturday, February 18th, with a new sidewalk to be built simultaneously that is 28 feet further out from the road. Arnold says this is the result of $1 million in funding from the county and an effort the keep children safe in the community.
“It seems that every other week we’re talking about a new accident at that sidewalk,” Arnold noted. “And it’s just – to me, as a parent, it wasn’t a matter of if, it was a matter of when.”
Arnold says that “when,” is long overdue.
“We couldn’t have acted a minute sooner. There’s nothing more important than the safety of our children,” Arnold said.
The St. Johns County School District also released a statement on Monday announcing the move, while reassuring parents of St. Johns Forest that their children will be able to bus to school during construction. That statement is attached below:
St. Johns County Public Works will close the existing sidewalk along County Road 2209 beginning Saturday, Feb. 18. St. Johns County Public Works will remove the existing sidewalk and begin construction of a new, improved sidewalk along CR 2209.
By law, the State of Florida provides transportation funding for students who live two or more miles from a school. For students living within a two-mile radius of a school, a walking path to the school must be maintained. The existing sidewalk is used by students who live within a two-mile radius of Liberty Pines Academy, a St. Johns County School District school.
Due to the sidewalk closure, the St. Johns County School District will provide temporary transportation in the way of school buses to the affected students living within a two-mile radius of Liberty Pines Academy for the remainder of the 2022-2023 school year, starting Tuesday, Feb. 21. St. Johns County School District schools will be closed on Monday, Feb. 20, in observance of Presidents Day.
Beginning with the 2023-2024 school year, students living within a two-mile radius of Liberty Pines Academy will be able to use the newly constructed sidewalk to travel to school and return home.
According to County Commissioner Arnold, the new sidewalk will have to be completed by the end of the school year, if not summer.
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